First of all, the obligitory Fark Cancer! Second, he's lucky it was basal cell carcinoma since it doesn't metastasize, and lucky he caught it early enough before it could do any other kind of damage. Melanoma is a biatch and if they find something after the initial biopsy of the funky freckle or whatever it is that makes you think you have it, the doc has to cut out a significant portion of your skin and fatty tissue down to the muscle around the site. Then they send that in for a biopsy, and if it turns out that it's spread beyond the area they cut out it's off to chemo you go.

Csb,I went in for a funky freckle a few years back, so the doc basically sliced off the freckle and sent it in for a biopsy. After the results came back positive for melanoma, I was sent to a surgeon that measured a certain distance around the site of the original biopsy and drew a circle, then drew what seemed like a huge freaking football shape around that so he could pull the skin together after taking the large chunk away. I had local anesthesia and the funky electrical cauterizing thing he used to contain the bleeding kept making my arm twitch. Shiat left a huge freaking scar. Luckily enough it hadn't spread and I didn't need chemo or any other kind of radiation therapy, but that scared the shiat out of me.

Dingleberry Dickwad:First of all, the obligitory Fark Cancer! Second, he's lucky it was basal cell carcinoma since it doesn't metastasize, and lucky he caught it early enough before it could do any other kind of damage. Melanoma is a biatch and if they find something after the initial biopsy of the funky freckle or whatever it is that makes you think you have it, the doc has to cut out a significant portion of your skin and fatty tissue down to the muscle around the site. Then they send that in for a biopsy, and if it turns out that it's spread beyond the area they cut out it's off to chemo you go.

Csb,I went in for a funky freckle a few years back, so the doc basically sliced off the freckle and sent it in for a biopsy. After the results came back positive for melanoma, I was sent to a surgeon that measured a certain distance around the site of the original biopsy and drew a circle, then drew what seemed like a huge freaking football shape around that so he could pull the skin together after taking the large chunk away. I had local anesthesia and the funky electrical cauterizing thing he used to contain the bleeding kept making my arm twitch. Shiat left a huge freaking scar. Luckily enough it hadn't spread and I didn't need chemo or any other kind of radiation therapy, but that scared the shiat out of me.

/end csb

This. I never imagined agreeing with someone named Dingleberry Dickwad, though :). But I'm glad it worked out for you. My family has a history, being Irish and all.

Dingleberry Dickwad:First of all, the obligitory Fark Cancer! Second, he's lucky it was basal cell carcinoma since it doesn't metastasize, and lucky he caught it early enough before it could do any other kind of damage. Melanoma is a biatch and if they find something after the initial biopsy of the funky freckle or whatever it is that makes you think you have it, the doc has to cut out a significant portion of your skin and fatty tissue down to the muscle around the site. Then they send that in for a biopsy, and if it turns out that it's spread beyond the area they cut out it's off to chemo you go.

Csb,I went in for a funky freckle a few years back, so the doc basically sliced off the freckle and sent it in for a biopsy. After the results came back positive for melanoma, I was sent to a surgeon that measured a certain distance around the site of the original biopsy and drew a circle, then drew what seemed like a huge freaking football shape around that so he could pull the skin together after taking the large chunk away. I had local anesthesia and the funky electrical cauterizing thing he used to contain the bleeding kept making my arm twitch. Shiat left a huge freaking scar. Luckily enough it hadn't spread and I didn't need chemo or any other kind of radiation therapy, but that scared the shiat out of me.

/end csb

I had an irregularly shaped mole on my abdomen that the doctor decided to do the cut-a-huge-football-shape thing to remove it without even biopsying it first. Turned out that it was perfectly normal tissue and I now have a nasty scar for no reason, made even nastier by the fact that my doctor had shiat suturing skills.

rynthetyn:Dingleberry Dickwad: First of all, the obligitory Fark Cancer! Second, he's lucky it was basal cell carcinoma since it doesn't metastasize, and lucky he caught it early enough before it could do any other kind of damage. Melanoma is a biatch and if they find something after the initial biopsy of the funky freckle or whatever it is that makes you think you have it, the doc has to cut out a significant portion of your skin and fatty tissue down to the muscle around the site. Then they send that in for a biopsy, and if it turns out that it's spread beyond the area they cut out it's off to chemo you go.

Csb,I went in for a funky freckle a few years back, so the doc basically sliced off the freckle and sent it in for a biopsy. After the results came back positive for melanoma, I was sent to a surgeon that measured a certain distance around the site of the original biopsy and drew a circle, then drew what seemed like a huge freaking football shape around that so he could pull the skin together after taking the large chunk away. I had local anesthesia and the funky electrical cauterizing thing he used to contain the bleeding kept making my arm twitch. Shiat left a huge freaking scar. Luckily enough it hadn't spread and I didn't need chemo or any other kind of radiation therapy, but that scared the shiat out of me.

/end csb

I had an irregularly shaped mole on my abdomen that the doctor decided to do the cut-a-huge-football-shape thing to remove it without even biopsying it first. Turned out that it was perfectly normal tissue and I now have a nasty scar for no reason, made even nastier by the fact that my doctor had shiat suturing skills.

doglover:rynthetyn: Dingleberry Dickwad: First of all, the obligitory Fark Cancer! Second, he's lucky it was basal cell carcinoma since it doesn't metastasize, and lucky he caught it early enough before it could do any other kind of damage. Melanoma is a biatch and if they find something after the initial biopsy of the funky freckle or whatever it is that makes you think you have it, the doc has to cut out a significant portion of your skin and fatty tissue down to the muscle around the site. Then they send that in for a biopsy, and if it turns out that it's spread beyond the area they cut out it's off to chemo you go.

Csb,I went in for a funky freckle a few years back, so the doc basically sliced off the freckle and sent it in for a biopsy. After the results came back positive for melanoma, I was sent to a surgeon that measured a certain distance around the site of the original biopsy and drew a circle, then drew what seemed like a huge freaking football shape around that so he could pull the skin together after taking the large chunk away. I had local anesthesia and the funky electrical cauterizing thing he used to contain the bleeding kept making my arm twitch. Shiat left a huge freaking scar. Luckily enough it hadn't spread and I didn't need chemo or any other kind of radiation therapy, but that scared the shiat out of me.

/end csb

I had an irregularly shaped mole on my abdomen that the doctor decided to do the cut-a-huge-football-shape thing to remove it without even biopsying it first. Turned out that it was perfectly normal tissue and I now have a nasty scar for no reason, made even nastier by the fact that my doctor had shiat suturing skills.

Don't like it? Get a tatttoo over it.

I'm not sure that would... I just... No, it's just easier to call you a dick.

This is a pic of the circle and the football shape I mentioned earlier. The red circle in the middle is the site of the original freckle that he sliced off. If you look carefully you can see a light outline of a football shape around the one there already. That's how big the doc was originally thinking of making it.

The pic below is everything after that eyeball shaped hunk of flesh was removed, the edges pulled together, and sewn back up. As you can see, it basically destroyed one of my tattoos, but I'm more than ok with that. I'd rather be skin cancer free. As you can see the wound is pretty damned long, and that's the short version, imagine if he'd used that larger football outline for excising all that flesh. I'm not going to post the pic I have of the wound with all the flesh gone and the muscle is exposed, I figure you folks wanna keep your food down.

My dad died as a result of melanoma, and it made a huge impression. I'm glad I avoided the sun most of my years, but I'm not sure how I did that living in a place like San Diego, where having a tan is practically part of the municipal code.

This is a pic of the circle and the football shape I mentioned earlier. The red circle in the middle is the site of the original freckle that he sliced off. If you look carefully you can see a light outline of a football shape around the one there already. That's how big the doc was originally thinking of making it. [i701.photobucket.com image 850x637]

The pic below is everything after that eyeball shaped hunk of flesh was removed, the edges pulled together, and sewn back up. As you can see, it basically destroyed one of my tattoos, but I'm more than ok with that. I'd rather be skin cancer free. As you can see the wound is pretty damned long, and that's the short version, imagine if he'd used that larger football outline for excising all that flesh. I'm not going to post the pic I have of the wound with all the flesh gone and the muscle is exposed, I figure you folks wanna keep your food down.

[i701.photobucket.com image 850x637]

/yeah, I know I made some silly tat choices over the years.

The important thing is that your tattoo is of the Royal Bank of Canada.